In many instances, a user may interact with a computing device to provide manual user input. For instance, a user may use a keyboard, mouse, trackpad, touchpad, or other user interface to provide input during execution of one or more applications on the computing device.
In certain cases, a user may interact with a touchscreen user interface, such as when using a mobile device (e.g., mobile phone, personal data assistant, smart phone, or the like). A mobile device that includes a touchscreen may not necessarily include a separate keyboard device having physical keys. Instead, the mobile device may execute a graphical, or soft, keyboard application that provides a keyboard displayed to the user on the touchscreen. The user may then manually select keys by interacting with (e.g., pressing down on) the touchscreen.
Existing graphical keyboard applications typically require the use of mode keys (e.g., “shift” key, “ctrl” key, “alt” key) in conjunction with an existing key for the input of alternate characters. For example, a user may press the “shift” key and then press the “c” key to input a capital C. In some instances, the user may press three or even more keys (e.g., pressing ‘shift’ and ‘alt’ together, and pressing another key) to input certain characters. Some mobile devices allow a user to initiate a ‘long press’ on a particular letter key to input a capitalized version of the letter. For example, in these devices, the user may press the “c” key for a defined period of time (e.g., one second) to input a capital C.